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BPA Press Releases

29 November 2017

Pace of electric vehicle revolution at risk, BPA finds

We are seeing tremendous technological advances in the Electric Vehicle (EV) market and our research demonstrates the lack of an adequate network of chargers of the right capacities in the right locations. Of the Local Authorities surveyed:

33% had no EV charge points

69% did not have the capital in their budgets to increase or install EV points

36% didn’t know if they were eligible for government grants towards installation.

Average number of EV points was 19 per local authority with the vast majority located off-street

1057 new EV points were planned within the next 3 years. This means that overall there is an average of 0.003 charging points per car parking space and 0.39 per car park.

Regarding future plans for installation, 51% of authorities are planning to increase the number of EV charging points and of those, 16% are dependent upon funding. 34% currently had no plans for new installations. The survey also revealed heavy imbalances across the country, with 25 authorities having no charging points.

Andrew Pester, Chief Executive of the BPA said: “We continue to see ambitious growth forecasts for electric vehicle take-up and the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill should help – but we remain some way off having sufficient recharging infrastructure to enable plugging in to become the norm. New technologies and innovation are changing the way parking services are managed and delivered. We continue to inform and facilitate changes in the sector to improve parking services for all.”

The survey was commissioned by the BPA’s Parking 20:20 EV group, comprising of charge-point providers, car park operators and key stakeholders. The group has been established to ensure that the parking community supports the increasing use of alternative energy sources for electric vehicles by providing relevant recharging infrastructure.